Team TOGhttps://teamtog.wordpress.com
"The Other Guys"Wed, 21 Feb 2018 23:44:52 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://secure.gravatar.com/blavatar/f63e7046afa9158bdb1e09af60c1c09d?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.wp.com%2Fi%2Fbuttonw-com.pngTeam TOGhttps://teamtog.wordpress.com
https://teamtog.wordpress.com/2016/02/21/1054/
Sun, 21 Feb 2016 03:42:51 +0000http://teamtog.com/?p=1054Welcome to the home of Team TOG. We’re just your ordinary band of misfit amateur endurance athletes sharing our little slice of the world.

Let us tell you of the days of high adventure.

]]>jds3242016 Rocheport Roubaix Recaphttps://teamtog.wordpress.com/2016/02/03/2016-rocheport-roubaix-recap/
https://teamtog.wordpress.com/2016/02/03/2016-rocheport-roubaix-recap/#respondWed, 03 Feb 2016 16:54:00 +0000http://teamtog.wordpress.com/?p=1016This past Sunday I rode the 50 mile version of the Rocheport Roubaix. Since everything went to plan and played out nicely for the day, and I didn’t stop to take any pictures, I’ll give some brief notes on the race.

-First off, UltraMax Sports puts on a great, well run, organized event. Everything went like clockwork from check-in to finish. It was chip timed and individual results were available immediately after finishing. They come highly recommended in my book.

-Last year’s race had a high of 18 degrees, this year was almost 60 and brought out a lot more riders. I had a chance to meet some new folks and several who were at their first gravel grinder, which is always good to see. I also ran across some grumpy older guys that didn’t seem to want to talk much. So I talked as much as I could and tried to show zero signs of fatigue, just to help reinforce their world view. Later I got to pass them on a climb and gave a few dings of my bell as I went by. It’s all good mental training.

-I’ve been following the Maffetone Method for several weeks now, which basically keeps all my rides under a heart rate of 142 and relatively slow. I’ll be writing more on that as it develops, but so far I’m very happy with the results. I felt strong all day and never felt like my breathing or heartrate was out of my control, even though Strava gave me an “Epic” suffer score. I ate 1 peanut butter and honey rice ball and 1 GU over the 3:45 ride and never felt hungry or low on energy. I did get a hint of a leg cramp towards the end, but ate a mustard packet that’s been in my frame bag for probably 3 years and it kept them away.

-Hills. This bad boy had somewhere around 3,500 feet of climbing over the 50 mile course with seem pretty steep sections. My main focus was to survive them. SuperKate showed up with some legs and crushed the timed hill climb to take the Queen of the Hill title. Well done!

-This race is in my backyard, so I’ve traveled most of these roads many times before. However, it also showed me a few extras that will definitely be included in future training rides. I’m super lucky to be so close to such good riding.

-I think I see something new on every gravel ride and this time it was a pig. I thought it was a dog at first and got ready for a sprint, but the nose and short legs give him away and he was far less interested in me. The good thing about not being fast is that most of the aggressive critters’ fight is already exhausted by the time I pass them. The beast looked like this…

-I found myself feeling a bit of race spirit in me which is new. I really wanted to catch up with The Darkness from Team Virtus, but never got him in my sights. I ended up about 4 minutes behind him. In the last 10 miles or so I caught up to a rider from a local team that was soft pedaling. He picked up the pace when I passed and I was hell bent on not getting caught. I lost him somewhere in the last 3 miles and was happy, even though he had probably done the long course and had cramps or something. Whatever. Lions target limping gazelles all the time.

-My favorite part of this course is the screaming descent into the finish line. I hit 40 mph on the pavement back into town and it made me feel like a spandex clad rocket closing in on its target. I’m not a light weight dude and while the physics punishes me on the climbs, it rewards me on the descents.

-The race entry fee included a free beer and bowl of soup after the ride at the local watering hole. This is a great idea as it kept people around the finish line longer. Rocheport is a pretty cool little B&B town for Katy Trail riders and winery visitors, so I’m sure they appreciated the extra business in the off season.

-I got some good training advice from a strong local rider, “Eat spinach, do the box jumps”. I’m on it.

]]>https://teamtog.wordpress.com/2016/02/03/2016-rocheport-roubaix-recap/feed/0wp-1454517191326.jpgjds324wp-1454517160017Tour of Hurtin, I mean Hermannhttps://teamtog.wordpress.com/2015/05/14/tour-of-hurtin-i-mean-hermann/
https://teamtog.wordpress.com/2015/05/14/tour-of-hurtin-i-mean-hermann/#respondThu, 14 May 2015 16:13:20 +0000http://teamtog.wordpress.com/?p=983It’s been a little over a month since the Tour of Hermann, so I figured I’d better document the effort. My main goal for ToH actually had nothing to do with myself. I recently helped my good friend Andy (good friend as in we’ve been paling around since Pre-school) build up his first serious bike and he was looking to put some miles on it. Having blocked the ToH’s elevation profile from my memory, I figured the first 30 mile lap would be a good intro to the sport.

We rolled into Hermann bright and early Saturday morning, got signed in, and said some hellos. I could tell Andy was buzzing and his excitement was infectious. We lined up at the traditional Team TOG pole position at the back of the start and rolled north across the river. Caught up in the jetstream of the peloton in front of us, we cruised at a 20mph pace to the start of the gravel where the group spread out.

While I’m used to riding in and out of the Missouri River flood plain around Columbia and Jefferson City, the same feat around Hermann is a different animal. The Hermann hills seem to cover the same elevation in half the distance, making the climbs look like walls ahead of you. Luckily, there’s no shame in our game, and our egos felt no blows as we walked the steepest hills.

We rolled along at a conversational pace, once stopping to assist a less than prepared rider with a flat, and again a few miles later to fix my own. The final descent, paid for in blood and tears during the ascent, offered spectacular views and rear puckering speeds before depositing us back out onto the Katy Trail. I could tell the last few climbs were taking a toll on Andy’s legs, but he suffered in silence and made good time.

Back on the Katy Trail, I knew what to expect. The inexperienced may think this is a blessing after all the climbing, but the flat straight gravel gives your mind the chance to talk to your body. This conversation usually goes like this…

And so it goes. I could tell Andy’s internals were having a similar conversation and we just put our heads down and peddled out the last 6 miles back to the loop 1 finish. My original intentions were to head out for the second loop and get another metric checked off for the Cup O’ Dirt Challenge, but I wasn’t crazy about rolling out alone and the prospect of sitting around and eating BBQ instead won out. We went over to the checkpoint to confirm that we were still alive and bow out. Upon mentioning that this was Andy’s longest ride to date (by 15 miles no less), the benevolent race director, Jeff Yielding, awarded him a bottle wine for his effort.

All said and done, Andy’s first event doubled his longest ride, covered one of the hilliest 30 mile gravel routes you could find, and he only told me he hated me 3 or 4 times. Success!

]]>https://teamtog.wordpress.com/2015/05/14/tour-of-hurtin-i-mean-hermann/feed/0wpid-fb_img_1431620179372.jpgjds324FB_IMG_1431620104897.jpgBeet Juice, Vasodilation, and Prarie Fertilizerhttps://teamtog.wordpress.com/2015/04/10/beet-juice-vesodilation-and-prarie-fertilizer/
https://teamtog.wordpress.com/2015/04/10/beet-juice-vesodilation-and-prarie-fertilizer/#commentsFri, 10 Apr 2015 21:45:25 +0000http://teamtog.wordpress.com/?p=972I’ve been reading a lot lately on what is going on biologically when we exercise. This was triggered after choking down some beet juice prior to a ride and then subsequently crushing a couple of climbs that normally left me crying. Maybe it was psychological, maybe not (I don’t care either way) but I figured I’d look into what was going on. I won’t take you completely down the rabbit hole and most everyone has a basic understanding of this, but here is a brief summary of what I found. Prepare your inner geek.

When we begin to exercise and muscles begin to work, your sympathetic nervous system instant messages the nerves in your blood vessels (veins and arteries, aka blood plumbing) and tells them to constrict, which is called vasoconstriction. This message is dispatched through your whole body and restricts blood flow. However, as your muscles work, they release byproducts that cancel out the vasoconstriction message and send a vasodilation message, expanding the blood plumbing that feed them.

What this effectively does is increase the blood flow to where it is immediately needed, the muscles, and decreases the blood flow to lower priority spots like your stomach and intestines. Awesome!

The down side of this decrease in blood flow to the digestive system is why your body is only capable of processing 300-400 calories an hour while exercising. That’s an important number to remember for endurance athletes, because much less than that can leave you bonked, but too much can cause big stomach issues. That’s why longer races have been described as an eating contest on bikes. Get the food wrong, and no amount of fitness can save you. I got a dose of this at Dirty Kanza last year and had to stop and fertilize the Kansas prairie before my abdomen exploded.

Now, where does beet juice fit in? Beet juice contains a high amount of nitrates. These nitrates are converted to nitric oxide by your slobbery saliva (savoring that nasty little shot of dirt flavored beet juice a bit longer in your mouth may increase its benefits). And guess what? Nitric Oxide is a facilitator of vasodilation, helping open up the blood plumbing to your muscles. More blood flow to your muscles means the delivery of more oxygen and fuel and faster flushing of nasty muscle byproduct like lactic acid.

There’s still plenty of studies conflicting on how long the benefits of beet juice last and if taking it multiple times over a few days or once before a race produces different results. One interesting thing I found is that spinach leaves have nearly twice the amount of nitrates per serving as beet juice. Maybe a big ass spinach salad could have similar benefits. I’m guessing the liquid beet juice, being liquid, is broken down by saliva easier than leafy greens.

Now, I’m not going to go into what happens when you go from aerobic to anaerobic exercise and how that affects lactate buildup, mainly because I haven’t read enough corroborating data to form a clear picture. What I do know is that it changes how fuel is metabolized. To help delay that burn, I’ve personally had good success with taking Sport Legs prior to a big ride. It seems to act as a buffer to raise the lactic threshold, or it just dulls the burn of acid build up in the legs. Either way, I feel like I can push harder after taking it. Results may vary. I’ll be digging deeper into that soon.

That’s all for now, hopefully you learned something, as I know I did. The knowledge probably won’t make you any faster, but now you can curse vasoconstriction for the stomach issues you have and drop some knowledge booms when your coworkers ask about the distorted face of horror you make when swishing that red juice around in your mouth. Let me know if you want more info on any of this or if I have something wrong! This is a google education, afterall.

]]>https://teamtog.wordpress.com/2015/04/10/beet-juice-vesodilation-and-prarie-fertilizer/feed/1wpid-sympatheticandparasympatheticnervoussystem-1.jpg.jpegjds324Vasoconstriction_and_Vasodilation.png61ZDNbpbAYL._SY550_.jpgbike-glove-bottle-6w.jpgA Mokane Gravelpalooza Metrichttps://teamtog.wordpress.com/2015/03/12/a-mokane-gravelpalooza-metric/
https://teamtog.wordpress.com/2015/03/12/a-mokane-gravelpalooza-metric/#respondThu, 12 Mar 2015 17:00:07 +0000http://teamtog.com/?p=954The weather gods smiled upon us here in Mid-MO and provided a break in the arctic temps for a perfect weekend. Not wanting to anger them, I met up with Bob, Luke, and Travis of Team Virtus in the bustling metropolis of Mokane Saturday morning for a back roads metric. We were rewarded with perfect weather, fast roads, and smooth sailing. Here’s a brief summary of what went down.

As usual, I should have taken more pictures, but it was too nice a day to worry about. 1 more metric in the books towards the Cup O Dirt!

This was the inaugural year for the Rocheport Roubaix, hosted by UltraMax Sports, and it didn’t disappoint. This race offers several distance options and covers some great gravel leaving from Rocheport, MO and heading east, taking riders in and out of the MO River flood plains. Still being fairly early in the year, I opted for the 55 mile option. Now, before you Cup O Dirt Challengers out there call shenanigans, read the whole post!

When I first heard about this ride, I dispatched a message to the far corners of the state in hopes of recruiting some other riders. Team Virtus answered, and on race day we had 9 brave souls towing the line. We rolled out in the 15 deg temps and quickly separated into groups over the first few climbs. Aaron and I settled into a comfortable pace and began the slog eastward.

Comfortable = Slow

Click the Pic to see the Garmin link

While I’m usually not a fan of hauling my fat carcass up climbs, those we encountered were a welcome chance to raise our temps and keep our bodies warm. Luke and I had done a recon ride of a portion of the course the week prior, but I felt much stronger on the hills during the race. Maybe my body was numb or the couple extra Sufferfest videos I squeezed into the week made a difference, either way no complaints. The descents on the course proved to be a great opportunity for our eyeballs to freeze. I could feel my contacts getting stiff and opted to wear my sunglasses as a wind break.

My protective chin igloo

The course was marked very well and we never needed to refer to maps. There were also aid stations every 15 miles or so. These gave us a good chance to get some liquid water in our bodies. Our water bottles had frozen within the first 15 miles and were all but useless. I would be surprised if I drank a bottle worth of liquid over the whole course. The stops also stocked Hammer gel, pickles, and a few other popular race choices. You could really tell that UltraMax Sports knows how to put on an event.

After a few stops to water the local flora, Aaron and I figured out that whenever we felt too cold, we could just stop for a minute, pee, and our bodies would warm up. I’m marking this up to our blistering speeds creating such a gale force of wind resistance that it was freezing us. Regardless of the physics involved, hopping off the bikes and walking a few spots did wonders for warming up our hands and feet.

Aaron happy to have peed

It was amazing the difference it made! The tough part was the lead feeling in my legs after the stop.

Now it seems like every ride is characterized by some odd feature. Certainly the cold makes this one stand out, but more so than that were the chickens. We passed by rogue chickens 4 times over the course (I’m pretty sure it was the same 2 chickens). They weren’t near any farm houses or barns, so I can only assume they were on the lamb. My guess is that they were actually mortal enemies, looking to meet up and fight to the death over the hen they both love. Somewhere in all the clucking, the exact coordinates for their dual was mis-communicated. Now, they will forever roam the countryside, each unwilling to give up his honor. That’s just one man’s theory though.

Frozen roads, frozen water bottles, frozen fingers

As we headed back toward Rocheport over death by a thousand hills, we had the luxury of getting pelted in the face with sleet. Unfortunately this only lasted for a few miles, so we can’t really claim any badges of courage from it. We cruised back to the finish line over some remarkably smooth gravel (I’ve heard some call this “pavement”) and was greeted at the finish with hot chili, free beer, and a warm place to relax.

Unfortunately, as an official admin of the Cup O Dirt Challenge, I couldn’t come within just 6 miles of a metric century and call it quits to enjoy the siren song of warmth. I said some quick hellos, and then headed down to the Katy Trail for a quick 3 mile out and back. This ended up being the absolute coldest part of the whole day. Being totally flat, I wasn’t able to ride fast enough to keep my hands warm on the trail and nearly froze to death. Luckily, it was just a quick ride and I was back to the comforts of warmth before I knew it. Well worth the chance to rack up a metric.

1 down, 11 to go

All said it was a good day on the bike and a chance to catch up with some friends. It was a fun course and one I’ll undoubtedly be revisiting as I train up for future rides.

What worked:

Clothes – Here is what kept me comfortable all day…

Head – Lazer helmet with winter insert – these helmets fit great and come with lots of extras

Hands – Spa Sports Lobster gloves – had my hands sweating most of the day, just not easy to eat while wearing

Solid food – Figs, hammer/GU/Cliff gels – relying on liquid nutrition would have been bonk city

Beard – Within minutes I had a frozen protective layer on my face.

What Didn’t:

Water Bottles – Frozen in the first hour- Maybe should have added a bit of whiskey to each to keep from freezing. I ended up moving one from the bike to my center jersey pocket, which melted enough for a gulp every few miles.

Katy Trail miles – way too cold for flat riding, hills are your friends on cold days

I was really warm except my feet and above my glasses/below my face mask. Water bottles were basically useless, and the gels were tough to choke down. Overall great day a bike that I haven’t ridden much lately.

If you’re ever in our neighborhood(MO) and looking to ride at a slightly embarrassing slow pace, just hit us up! We’re always looking to meet knew riders!

]]>https://teamtog.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/the-rocheport-roubaix-2015-report/feed/0wpid-cam00739.jpgjds324RR 2015My protective chin iglooCAM00734Frozen roads, frozen water bottles, frozen fingers1 down, 11 to goA Call to Armshttps://teamtog.wordpress.com/2015/02/12/a-call-to-arms/
https://teamtog.wordpress.com/2015/02/12/a-call-to-arms/#commentsThu, 12 Feb 2015 19:33:54 +0000http://teamtog.wordpress.com/?p=929Hello loyal reader! You may have thought you were rid of ol’ Team TOG, but alas, we linger on. We’re coming out of winter hibernation with a hunger for gravel and mud. Though there have been few fun outings that never quite made it here into the TOG Chronicles, it’s been fairly low key. So, this is your official warning that we will be at it once again. We’re planning on lots of mediocre performances and back of the pack results this year to uphold our standard of excellence. Prepare yourself to feel about the same level of inspiration as an office poster.

If you’ve managed the mental stamina to read this far, you may be just what we are looking for! That’s right, we’re looking to expand our team and you may be just the part time athlete we need! Now before you get super pumped and get a TOG tattoo on your neck, you may want to go back and read some of our race reports to see what we’re all about. Here are a few insights…

We believe that fun is better than fast, which is good, because we’re not fast. We believe that a shot of wiskey 5 miles into a 60 mile ride is a good idea. We generally look lumpy and round in spandex (except Aaron, aka Mr. Show Off) but don’t give a damn. We embrace terrible ideas knowing the story on the backside is worth a bit of suffering. We take our selves very seriously, except for when we don’t; which is all the time.

If this sounds like something you may be interested in, shoot us a message or comment below. We’ll get together for a ride, tell dirty jokes, and make fun of ourselves.

]]>https://teamtog.wordpress.com/2015/02/12/a-call-to-arms/feed/2wpid-e3ec53e456927d5d2adaee58fdf88d4d99fb50019a65f61cfc02616b74001c1e.jpgjds324motivationdemotivator.jpgIf At First You Don’t Finish As Fast As You’d Like, Try Again: The OGRE 2014 Reporthttps://teamtog.wordpress.com/2014/05/31/if-at-first-you-dont-finish-as-fast-as-youd-like-try-again-the-ogre-2014-report/
https://teamtog.wordpress.com/2014/05/31/if-at-first-you-dont-finish-as-fast-as-youd-like-try-again-the-ogre-2014-report/#commentsSat, 31 May 2014 15:13:57 +0000http://teamtog.com/?p=486Saturday was the second edition of the OGRE (Ozark Gravel Road Expedition) put on by Bonk Hard Racing. After coming in last year at 12:02 AM according to my watch and only being counted as a finisher because of a little stretching of the rules by the race promoters (my time is shown as 11:59:30 on the official results), I kind of wanted to come back and finish it within the allotted time. However, when they opened the race registration back in January, I waited to sign up…and waited….and watched the price increase…and waited some more. Finally, the week before they closed registration, Chuck Vohsen decided that he would rather be a family man and watch one of his son’s last sporting events before he goes off to college than race. After a little bit of peer pressure from Super Kate (who still has yet to even attempt this bad boy), I decided to buy his entry off of him, and with 2 weeks to go before the event, I needed to digitize the course and stare down every major climb in Google Earth prepare myself.

Fortunately, this year I had been riding more through the winter than last year, mostly thanks to some weekly Thursday night rides I’ve been doing with Bob Jenkins & Chuck since the end of January. Regardless of weather, we were out there on some frigid nights (0°F one night, -2° another 2 weeks after that). Sometimes we got 5 miles in (the -2° night with 5″ of snow on the ground), sometimes we got 20, but we were out there every week. The only week we skipped was a month or so ago when the tornado sirens were going off. So even though this has been one of the coldest winters since the 90’s, I had about 200 more miles under my belt YTD going into the race than last year (650 vs. 450).

As penance for leaving before my finish last year, I guilted Aaron into running SAG for me, because the only race I can ever talk my wife and kids into going to is a 30 minute dirt crit. She’s convinced they would be bored at one of these events. I tried to lay the same guilt trip on Jim, but he said he had to move or something. Lame!

Finally, Friday rolled around, and I headed down to Lake of the Ozarks, but not before my wife tried to talk me out of going and helping her do some yardwork. I had to tell her no, I have a race. I rolled out of St. Louis around 3:30, about 2 hours after I’d hoped, and got to the check-in around 6:30 or so. With going on the rainy Thursday night ride the day before and being distracted while I was trying to pack and leave Friday, I had a lot of prep work to do once I got to the house I was staying at that night. After stocking up on nutrition and spare tubes at the bike shop and grocery store that was next door, I headed down to the house. There, I started getting my bike ready and deciding what exactly I was going to bring with me. I had brought a backpack and my two Revelate Designs bags (the Tangle Frame Bag and Gas Tank Bag) to potentially use. Then I saw someone else’s setup and they were just going to have a small bag (Gas Tank equivalent), their 2 water bottles and whatever they could stuff in their jersey pockets. Granted, I knew this guy was a lot faster than me, but he had a point – the longest stretch between refuel points was 35 miles (the first leg), and they were mostly within 20 of each other. You don’t need to carry much. I’ve gone on 20 mile rides with no water before. At that point I decided I would just bring my 2 water bottles and strap on my Gas Tank bag to carry my food in, and leave the backpack and Tangle bag in my car. I had one tube and a couple CO2 cartridges in my seat pack and hoped for the best with my bike.

Last year for nutrition, I used Sierra Mist (I admit it, I can be a soda addict, but you can inhale a lot of calories really fast with soda), Fritos, and Peanut Butter M&M’s. This year, I decided to just use water for my liquid on the ride, and I bought some Smuckers frozen PB&J sandwiches, Pro Bar Energy chews, Peanut Butter M&M’s, peanuts, and some potato chips for food. I also bought a couple boxes of Capri Sun for at the rest stops. I was pretty sure it would be too much when I bought it, but come 12 hours in to the race, I never know what I am going to want to eat to keep me going.

As is usual for these races, I didn’t make it to bed until 11ish, and I set my alarm for 4:45. The race was to start at 6:00, and the start line was probably a 5-10 minute drive from the house. People in the house started stirring a little after 4:00 though, and I was awake about 4:30. Since my bike was mostly (not really) set up, I just had to kit up and head to the start line. While at the grocery store, I forgot to get anything for breakfast, so I was thankful to see the McDonald’s on the way there open for breakfast. Energy for the first leg taken care of. I was at the Big Sur Waterpark lot by 5:30, so I then had time to take care of my last minute items on the bike (attach my number and map case). After a brief panic about not being able to find both gloves, I lined up with the 10 mph group at the start line.

At the start line (see me over to the right?)Photo Credit: Diana Arendt/Bonk Hard

At 6:00, the police escort flipped on their lights and guided us to the end of the pavement, about 2 miles down the route. Upon rollout, I realized in my panic about my gear (and praying I wouldn’t drop my chain on the rollout descent), I’d forgotten to attach my map case! Whoops. Thankfully, the route to the first checkpoint was the same as last year and the course was marked with little yellow utility flags, so I figured I would be able to wing it and relaxed. I was also hopeful there would be other riders in my sight for a good while as well. As we went through the first few bumpy sections though, I happened to glance down and see a dropped cue sheet. I immediately pulled over and grabbed it, just for insurance. As a bonus, it was in the plastic sleeve Bonk Hard had given us, so it wouldn’t get all sweaty and nasty in my jersey pocket.

And they’re off!(photo credit: Diana Arendt/Bonk Hard)

Checkpoint 1 was at mile 37.6. The ride was organized into 8 segments. After the odd segments, Bonk Hard had a volunteer station so they could keep track of the racers’ progress. After the even segments, they had pit stops where you could meet your crew and get food and take care of routine maintenance on your bike. The Pit Stops also had time cutoffs to weed out the people who probably wouldn’t be able to finish in the allotted 18 hour time frame. While I remembered a couple good climbs in this leg, I also remembered it as the tame leg, and I think I only walked one or two hills before I got to the checkpoint. I was making fairly good time, and hanging with some people who I knew were faster than me. I was probably pushing myself a bit much here at times, but I figured that it wouldn’t hurt to bank some time here in case later segments didn’t go so well. At one point though, shifting my front derailleur, I’d heard some sort of popping noise, and then a while later, it seemed like it was shifting between my two rings too easy. Eventually, I looked down and realize that it wasn’t shifting into the big ring at all. Uh-oh. Thankfully, it was stuck in the small ring rather than the big one. I could deal with that, so long as I could use all of my back gears without too much rubbing. I pulled into the checkpoint at 8:49, 35 minutes faster than last year. At the checkpoint, they had lots of water and a pretty good spread of cupcakes, muffins, and other prepackaged baked goods. I got a blueberry muffin, topped off my water, and headed out after a 10 minute break.

Leaving the checkpoint, I started doing some math. Aaron was driving down from Jeff City that morning, and wanted to stop to do a lap on his mountain bike at Honey Run, a MTB trail at the Lake of the Ozarks. Last year, I came in to Pit Stop 1 just before 11:00, so I told him to show up about 10:00. My game plan for a faster finishing time was mostly just not to waste time at the checkpoints, I wasn’t anticipating actually riding a whole lot faster. I knew there were 2 monster climbs in the 13 miles to the pit stop, but in between them is some flattish ground you can hold some speed on. I started wondering if I would beat Aaron to the pit stop. I smiled a little at the thought (mostly because Emma, Orange Lederhosen’s awesome head of support, was holding my food until he arrived). The first climb, on Mt. Horeb Rd, was as tough as anticipated, but I just hoofed the bike up to the top and pedaled out to Highway D, knowing once I got to the pavement, the rest of the way to the pit stop was a pretty easy trek, except for the last few hundred feet uphill to the pit stop. The gravel on the climb was also supposed to be in better shape than the previous year. Not long after I made the turn onto Tunnel Dam, the road to the Pit Stop, I noticed a car come up behind me. A few seconds later, it honked at me. Turns out it was Aaron. He asked what I needed, and I mentioned my derailleur issue. Other than that, I was just getting a little hungry. He continued on to get set up, and I finished the ride into the Pit Stop, arriving at 10:01, 52 minutes faster than last year. I was still feeling good, but I wasn’t looking forward to the next 30 or so miles. There was a 15 mile lollipop segment, then I had to ride the 13 miles I’d just ridden in the opposite direction. The two giant hills I’d just climbed in the last segment had buddies on the opposite side of each ravine valley.

View of the Tunnel Dam area

But after less than 15 minutes, I decided to head on out, knowing that I could stop by again on my way back the other way. I figured it’d probably take me 90 minutes to do the loop, knowing what I had to climb. This segment was flooded out last year, so other than looking at the route on Google Earth, I didn’t really know what to expect. The climb was every bit as tough as advertized, and just about at the top, I saw this house that didn’t look like it was anything special, but it had a fence around the yard and some sign on the fence that said something to the effect of “If the dogs don’t get you, the camera will.” I think there were some other ones as well, but I didn’t feel like wasting any time to look or take a picture. Can we say paranoid? There was also a Confederate Flag flying in the yard. Someone needs to remind him the South lost the Civil War. I laughed to myself and moved on. Even after the steep part of this hill ended, it just seemed to grind on up for a while, but finally, I turned to the north and the ground leveled out and started to trend down a bit. Unfortunately, the gravel was rough through here, so I couldn’t take advantage of it as much as I would’ve liked. But when I made the turn to go back east to the bridge over the Niangua, the I got to enjoy a good 3 1/2 miles of downhill goodness. At this point, I also started to feel some raindrops. I don’t think I ever saw more than a 20% chance of rain advertized for the day, but there were some dark looking clouds in the area. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with any rain more than a drizzle. When I got back to the pit stop, I had Aaron pull up the weather on his phone. He was having problems getting a signal, but he convinced me the rain showing up yellow on the radar just to the north of us wouldn’t affect me. After I left and got to the top of the hill opposite the pit stop, I stopped and looked at the horizon. Knowing that I was heading east, which also was the direction of the darkest clouds, gave me a sense of relief. Maybe I wouldn’t get wet. The storm had passed us by after all. I continued back towards the church in Decaturville that was being used as Checkpoints 1 & 2 in pretty good spirits, especially as Mt. Horeb Road going east didn’t seem as bad as I’d remembered. Last year I thought there were several hills I had to walk on going east, but this year, there was only the big one and maybe one more. I stopped and checked in when I got to the checkpoint, guzzled a bottle of water, and headed off, knowing it was less than 10 miles to the next pit stop, and 3 of those were paved (2 at the beginning and 1 at the end). Those 10 miles were pretty uneventful. After a little climb leaving Decaturville, there was some glorious downhill to the end of the pavement, and then it seemed like most of the gravel was uphill, but it wasn’t anything super difficult. I pulled up with Keith, a rider who I’d met on a mountain bike ride the previous weekend, and we rode into the Pit Stop (mile 87) together at 1:50 PM. I was now an hour and 40 minutes up on my pace from 2013.

The view on the monster climb after Pit Stop 1

On the way to Checkpoint 2

At this point, I was starting to get sore, and I was not looking forward to the next 20 miles, and especially 97-107. Those 10 miles were the 10 that almost broke me last year. It took me almost 3 hours to ride that segment last year and threw into serious doubt whether or not I’d be able to finish the race. It felt like I was at the pit stop for a long time, but it was just 20 minutes, during which Aaron was practically force feeding me, saying i wasn’t eating & drinking enough. He was probably somewhat right. I felt like I was drinking, but I wasn’t really eating in the saddle, mostly because I wasn’t feeling bad enough to stop and open any packs of my energy chews. After the race, Aaron commented on how he could see my mood change between the 3 pit stops, and how dark I looked here.As it turned out, the 20 miles I thought I’d hate weren’t quite as bad as anticipated. The first significant hill on the leg seemed tougher than I remembered, but while the climb up through Lake of the Ozarks SP was tough, it seemed easier than last year? The hills right after the 100 mile marker were also tough, but I made it through them, and I didn’t have to walk every hill on the dreaded road with the roller coaster hills that kept getting taller (I only walked half of them). I rolled into Checkpoint 3 at 4:11 PM, now 2:15 ahead of my pace from last year.

I was now just 47 miles from the finish line, the length of an average weekend ride for me. At this point I wasn’t worried at all about the midnight cutoff, I was wondering if I might finish by 9:00. I was in and out of the checkpoint in under 5 minutes, mostly because I wanted to keep ahead of a rider who was approaching me from behind.

However, here is where things started going south. The road I missed a turn on last year didn’t seem as fast as it was. There was a sketchy descent on the next road and a walking climb to follow. Then another climb. And another. And yet another one. There were like 4 or 5 climbs where I had to hop off the bike before I got back up to Highway U, which was the midpoint of this segment. My legs were starting to hurt, the wind kicked up and I was having to ride into it, the rider who was coming up on me passed me, and the gravel just didn’t seem to have many good lines through it. I thought things got easier on the other side of Hwy. U, but there were a couple walking climbs over there too. I finally rolled into Pit Stop 3 at 6:48 PM, the segment taking me 6 minutes longer than last year, even with missing a turn and riding a couple miles out of my way last time. Thankfully, I still had 2 hours in the bank compared to last year’s time.

But rolling into Pit Stop 3 (mile 127), I knew I only had 27 miles to go, which is almost a distance I could do without water. This is how I manage the last stages of a long ride – just put the distance left in the context of a ride by itself. 40-50 miles? That’s a Trailnet ride. 30 miles? A weekend ride with a buddy. 20 miles? An after work ride, and yes, sometimes I’ll go out without water for that length. Or bring water and not touch it. 10 miles? I could do that in my sleep! I had the turn onto Highway D (mile 148.6) marked in my head as much as the finish because even though there was 5 miles to go at that point, D was paved, the road after that was almost all downhill, then there was the doubletrack segment and the cyclocross climb up the embankment to Highway 242, and once I was there, it was all pavement to the finish (even though it’s mostly uphill). Those were cake miles. I just wanted to get to D, and that was less than 22 miles away. Aaron had bought a rotisserie chicken earlier in the day, and even though he had the nerve to eat all the dark meat, he let me pick at that while I was resting at the pit stop. At least all the yummy skin on the breasts was untouched.

Again, I limited my break to 20 minutes, and headed to the last stretch, still in the daylight. Last year, it’d been dark for an hour when I got to the pit stop, and I was riding with a little 35 lumen headlamp and trying to stay close to a couple other people with lights (with mixed results) until I could get my light there. The first couple miles were pretty easy, then there was a sketchy creek crossing about 3 miles in. The creek was probably 6″ deep or so and filled with soft gravel, so i dismounted to cross it, and for the first time of the day, my feet were wet. I had wicking socks on, so I wasn’t too worried. This section is supposed to be the easiest, but by 130 miles into the race, my whole body was getting tired and sore. Without the time crunch of last year, I was mostly just taking it easy, walking anything that was more than a bit uphill and coasting as much as possible. Between 8:00 and 8:30, the sunlight disappeared and I flipped my light on, holding out on that as long as possible. Last year, my light was indicating a low battery as I pulled into the finish line, and even though I was only going to be using it for about half the time of last year, I didn’t want to take any chances. There was probably as much traffic on this segment than anywhere else on the course, which made me a little nervous in the darkness, but thankfully, I didn’t have any issues with cars. One lady passing me after I crested a hill even rolled down her window and said she wanted to make sure I was going to get up the hill before she went around me. There were even a couple places along here where people seemed to be hanging out watching us go by and cheered me on as I passed. Both of those were pretty cool. The only bad thing is that my Garmin started giving me a low battery warning. My spirits dropped as I didn’t think I would make it back before it died, but the warning seemed to just stay on my screen for a long time. I kept the light mostly off to help prolong the life, and only flipped it on to occasionally check mileage. Finally, just before 9:30, I climbed up the hill to the Highway D pavement. I was back in town! I passed the city limits sign, turned onto Wood River and descended to Checkpoint 4, where the guy asked me if I knew where I was going. I told him I did, and headed down the doubletrack toward the embankment to get onto Highway 242. From there, I headed up the hill to the finish and crossed the line at 10:03, an improvement of nearly 2 hours from last year.

FINISHED!(Photo Credit: Diana Arendt/Bonk Hard)

At the finish line, Gary handed me a specially wrapped mug so I wouldn’t drop it and break it, then I proceeded to have my picture taken for the OGRE wall of fame. And while Aaron missed me finishing yet again, he was at least inside Oz Cycles at the finish line. I joined him inside and refueled with some yummy barbeque. After a while I had to get out of my kit, so I had Aaron run me back to my car so I could go back to the house to clean up and get some rest.

While 2014 might be the last time for a while I do the OGRE, it’s not because of anything negative about the race, other than maybe the hills. Bonk Hard does a great job putting on their races: support is awesome, prizes are great if you’re in a position to podium in your division (I’m not), and they keep their checkpoints well stocked, along with having the awesome spread of food at the end of the ride. Given my current fitness, I’m pretty satisfied with my finishing time. Sure, maybe I could’ve run the last 50 miles a little faster, but is my slower performance there due to running the first 100 miles so much faster and burning all of my matches early, or just not having the time cutoffs staring me in the face to push me at the end? If I decide to start training for speed and think I could cut another hour or two off my time, maybe I’ll sign up again. But with my kids getting older, it might be a few years before I have that kind of time.

Celebrating my finish in the safety of my kitchen.

]]>https://teamtog.wordpress.com/2014/05/31/if-at-first-you-dont-finish-as-fast-as-youd-like-try-again-the-ogre-2014-report/feed/3photodaveb95At the start line (see me over to the right?) Photo Credit: Diana Arendt/Bonk HardAnd they're off! (photo credit: Diana Arendt/Bonk Hard)View of the Tunnel Dam areaThe view on the monster climb after Pit Stop 1FINISHED! (Photo Credit: Diana Arendt/Bonk Hard)Celebrating my finish in the safety of my kitchenThe Hairy Hundred 2014https://teamtog.wordpress.com/2014/05/23/the-hairy-hundred-2014/
https://teamtog.wordpress.com/2014/05/23/the-hairy-hundred-2014/#commentsFri, 23 May 2014 14:01:34 +0000http://teamtog.wordpress.com/?p=896The Hairy Hundred is a 93 mile gravel race out of Rocheport, MO that offers a good mix of rolling hills and windy flats. It is the fourth race in the Mid-MO Gravel Quadfecta Series (I just made that up), preceded by the Tour of Herman, OGRE, and Cedar Cross. Just 2 weeks out from the Dirty Kanza, it provides many riders a place to judge their fitness, dial in nutrition, and either boost or destroy confidence levels.

Though I had been eyeing the Hairy Hundred for months, I didn’t fully commit to riding it until about 9pm the night before. We’re currently on the middle of a move, which meant a couple hours of digging through boxes and multiple trips back to the old house to find a jersey and bib shorts. Nothing like procrastination to start things off on the right foot.

Race morning came with the usual hellos and slathering of chamois butter. After blowing up at the Cedar Cross a couple of weeks ago, I’d decided to stick with a group of like legged riders regardless of how great or terrible I felt. No more solo gravel head games for me. Luckily I was in good company as Kate, Chuck, and Bob were all in attendance as well. At 8pm we rolled out on the Katy Trail towards glory.

The course started with a few miles of smooth Katy Trail until turning us north bound to begin the large loop of the ride. Within 6 miles, my fancy new Garmin 800 told me I was off course and that I needed to make a U-turn. That wasn’t very inspiring as the course was clearly marked and we were most definitely where we needed to be. I tried to ignore its nagging beeps and stuck to the course markings for direction.

Though all of the Quadfecta rides are within an hour’s drive of one another, they all have their unique terrain. The Tour of Herman offers 2 days of roller coaster climbs and smooth gravel, The Ogre has it’s endless low water crossings and unforgiving climbs, Cedar Cross brings single track and chunky gravel into the mix. The Hairy Hundred consists of sections of short, punchy climbs broken up by flat fast roll-ins to the town stops every 25-35 miles.

We rolled north to our first stop at the Casey’s in Fayette without issue. We were 32 miles in, and it was early enough in the day that we were still seeing other groups of riders coming and going. I’d already downed 2 bottles worth of Carborocket 333 and took the chance to refill them with Grape Gatorade. Luckily they had the real stuff and not just that new age G2 low calorie nonsense. I want my Gatorade full octane. I also picked up a delicious Fig Newton, which has proven to be a gut safe convenience store fuel source. Eating those always makes me feel 10 years old again for some reason.

We moved out and made it about 5 miles before I needed a stop for nature’s call. I probably could have used the Casey’s, but half the fun of gravel riding is peeing on the side of the road and I didn’t want to deprive myself of the opportunity. While stopped, I decided to reset the course on my Garmin to see if it would magically correct itself. Luckily, it did! My guess is that it was still trying to navigate me back to the race start. I simply told it to pick up the course where it was, and it was spot on for the rest of the day.

As paces got settled into, Kate, Chuck, and I found ourselves alone and it was getting pretty quiet for our group. Kate and I had noticed an abundance of round hay bales in the area, but they failed to start up a conversation, so I was forced to tell jokes. Unfortunately, my time in the Army has left me with an abundance of socially unpalatable jokes that I’m too ashamed to repeat, so I told the only one I know fit for civilian consumption. If you want to hear it, you’ll have to come out on a ride with us. It lifted the mood for a bit, but we were starting to get weary and things stayed pretty quiet.

Rolling down a hill we came across Margie and Renee of Big Tree Racing. Margie’s wheel had eaten her rear derailleur and they had given in to pushing the 10 miles towards the next stop. A rider had gone ahead in hopes of reaching someone on the phone for a pickup, but that was unlikely. We stop and assessed the carnage. No broken spokes, but a mangled electronic rear D. I was going to run a system’s diagnostic on it, but realized I didn’t have the appropriate Android to Di2 interface cable to run a full scan and I was concerned the initial boot process may drain both the on bike battery and phone battery if the core was out of alignment. (Ok, none of that is an actual thing, I may have a slight bias against electronic shifting.) Luckily we were able to remove the rear D and convert her to a single speed with enough success to get her to the SAG stop in Glasgow.

Having not supplied a bag to get dropped off at the half-way point, we stopped into Casey’s # 2 and reloaded Gatorade and Fig Newton rations before rolling into the official SAG stop in Stump Park. We took full advantage of the stop by eating free cookies and getting our chains lubed by the good folks from Cyclextreme, one of my bike shop alma maters. I almost turned down an offer for some chamois cream before realizing it was my favorite flavor, Button Hole. That stuff is a slimy dream come true. The packets had been stored in the clear top of a tool box sitting in the sun all day. That stuff felt like it had just come out of the oven. It was downright hot, but turned out to be just the ticket. Like sliding into a hot tub that at first feels like it may boil your innards, and then settling in and embracing the burning comfort. Since Margie’s bike had called it quits at the stop, Renee joined our group and we rolled out towards Casey’s #3 in New Franklin.

We climbed out of Glasgow and stuck to paved roads for a while. Coming back into the river bottoms, we were met with a stiff headwind. We formed a pace line reminiscent of the TOG/Virtus pain train at Cedar Cross, and took turns pulling the convoy along. We were rolling about 15mph when Kate took the lead. Her head dropped, cadence rose, and we bumped up to 17+. Luckily, just as I was reaching my breaking point, Chuck also let up a bit and we toned back down. Kate may talk a modest game, but she can lay down some pain with the best of us.

After a quick stop to recheck our route, we rolled through Franklin, MO on to our next stop in New Franklin. Now, these 2 towns are maybe half a mile apart. I suppose someone just got fed up with Franklin’s crap and decided to make a new one. They do indeed have very different feels, and I can’t help but wonder if the New Franklin residents turn a smug shoulder when those hillbillies from Franklin make the ¼ mile trek over to raise a bit of hell. Somewhere in those two towns are a pair of star crossed lovers and when their cousin’s find out about the romance, a Dodge Neon is getting its tires slashed.

After a brief stop at the NEW Franklin Casey’s, we set out on the last 11 mile section of the race that doubled back on the route we had taken out. Once we hit the Katy Trail, the pace picked up again. With Renee and Kate leading out, Chuck and I just tried to keep up and made note not to let the girls lead again. Eventually the tunnel in Rocheport was visible and we rolled across the finish to the reception of cold beer and hot pizza.

My wife and kiddos where there to see my non-sprint finish and it’s always good to see them after a long day. It’s a huge bonus that the Quadfecta races are so close to home and the family can come out and support me.

It was another good day on the bike and the last opportunity for some real miles before Dirty Kanza. A big thanks goes out to the organizers, sponsors, and volunteers.

Things that worked
Real Gatorade, Fig Newtons, Mustard packets – I had eaten all of my “Race” nutrition by the first stop and am pleasantly surprised by the effectiveness of these two items. At one point I had a bottle each of Grape, orange, and fruit punch and the variety made drinking warm liquids much better. The mustard packets are a free and fast way to get more salt into your system and help prevent cramps, which I didn’t get all day. Eating one is also like taking a shot of liquid electricity.
Group riding and pacing – Though I still felt the mileage, I had pretty even pace all day instead of going out too fast and blowing up halfway through. Riding with a group keeps the solo gravel monsters at bay as well.
Gamin – It was spot on with every turn after I fixed the initial user error. The course was very well marked, but it’s nice to know the GPS did its job as well.

Things that didn’t work
Saddle Chamois Combo – While it wasn’t horribly painful, I was ready to be off the seat at the end. I’ve made some adjustments and think I have it dialed in now, but nothing like making saddle changes 2 weeks before DK.

Impressed by my blazing speed or race prowess? Have questions on what it’s like to be a fat kid in spandex in a rural Casey’s? Thinking of riding gravel and looking for some ill-advised tips? Leave a comment below!

]]>https://teamtog.wordpress.com/2014/05/23/the-hairy-hundred-2014/feed/1wpid-img_32771322959128.jpegjds32414220409691_38898422be.jpgIMG_32771322959128.jpegIMG_32745981222523.jpegIMG_34197312490328.jpegIMG_363723508004003.jpegCedar Cross 2014https://teamtog.wordpress.com/2014/05/12/cedar-cross-2014/
https://teamtog.wordpress.com/2014/05/12/cedar-cross-2014/#commentsMon, 12 May 2014 15:07:45 +0000http://teamtog.com/?p=854This past weekend was the 3rd running of Cedar Cross and proved to be another fun and successful year for the race. 100+ riders lined up in north Jefferson City, MO to race over 115 miles of gravel, single track, pavement and rail trail. TOG deployed in full force for the event with Justin, Aaron, and me riding while Dave, acting as photographer, recovered from his recent destruction of the OGRE.

This is serious business. photo credit – SuperKate

We lined up at the back of le peloton per standard operating procedures, and after an inspiring speech from race director Bob Jenkins, we rolled a short distance to the official start point for the national anthem and a kickin’ guitar solo. The race (ride) was on.

The course rolls out with a short section of pavement and quickly deposits you at the base of one of the larger climbs of the day. We grind up, passing a number of riders already fixing flats. The climb levels out, paces are settled into, and small groups are formed. We roll at a deliberate but social pace, meeting new faces and putting names with familiar ones.

Before long, we arrive at the trail head for the first off road portion of the day. The trail takes us through cow pasture on a rough ribbon of exposed dirt. This is where the Cedar Cross earns its name. That trail shakes the crap out of you. Seriously, I’m pretty sure the patties I was passing came from the riders before me, not the cows. Lucky it’s a short battering and then it’s on to some true single track before the forest vomits you back out onto gravel.

Approaching one of the low water crossings, a rider in front of me attempted a less than ideal line and ended up vaulting over his handlebars and landing on a nice soft pad of concrete. To my relief, he arose injury free and a life flight didn’t need to be dispatched, which would have really eaten in to both of our times.

I rolled on to the first opportunity for water at a small church around mile 27 and stopped to top off my bottles. You never know when the next chance for water will be on these rides, so it’s wise to get it while you can. This location had been mentioned on the race blog, but many riders skipped it and paid a price.

A few more miles of rolling gravel and the course heads into the second section of single track goodness. The previous weeks rain made the trail firm and fast compared to the soup sandwich the year before and this section was a good break from the crunching vibrations of gravel. Here I witnessed the most controlled, slow motion wreck in history as a small ditch ate Jim Phillips’ front wheel and he calmly endoed into the dirt. I suppose when you’re as bad as he is, even the trail knows not to mess with you too much. A few creek portages and a hike a bike later, is was back to the gravel and on towards the bag drop at mile 47.

I accurately navigated to the bag drop, avoiding the hilly detour Aaron and I had taken the previous year, to find my wife and kiddos waiting with a truck full of food and drink. I was surprised at the number of riders in full relaxation mode. There were feet kicked up and beers being killed all around. I had planned on making the stop a short one, so after topping off supplies, I rolled off into the last bit of off road riding.

Despite being a high horse traffic portion of the trail, it was also the most fun. The trail had plenty of swoopy re-routes and the few horse backed folks I came across were in good spirits and had control over their steeds. Horses tend to get spooked at pretty much everything but a carrot, so it’s always nice to successfully navigate around them. After a winding climb up the trail, at was back to the chunky limestone gravel of mid-MO.

The sun was well up now and miles and heat were starting to soak in a bit. I’d found myself a solo spot on the course and it began to turn into me vs my brain. I was making sure to stay on top of my fluids, but they were warm now and I was contemplating stopping to ask a local for a cool sip from the hose. Unfortunately, houses in this section were few and far between, being a rural gravel road. That’s when I saw her.

I’ve now ran into 2 angels on the Cedar Cross course. I met the first at the 2012 edition of the race, and she drives a PT cruiser. The second ended up being a girl of about 10 with a Koolaid stand in her front yard. I blinked hard to verify her existence and made a quick course correction to her oasis. Now this road probably had no more than 3 cars on it all day. But today, there were 100+ hot and thirsty fools in tight clothes streaming past her house. She was short on change, and I didn’t ask the price, so I stood happily and sipped the best $10 cup of cherry Koolaid ever to meet my lips. I had a new lease on life…for about 30 minutes.

The 60ish mile mark in any ride is when I start to hate bicycles. Even knowing this going in, I just can’t shake that desire to throw my ride into a ditch and hope to be eaten by wolves. It didn’t help that I was still solo. I rolled into the 74 mile mark at the Ham’s Prairie gas station with a poor attitude and tired legs.

Once again, Janie and the kids were there to greet me with cold drinks and a chair in the shade. I slumped down and licked my mental wounds. I drank 2 bottles of cold water and felt a bit better. As more riders rolled in and back out, I eased back into the idea of riding and began refilling my water bottles. There was no way I was rolling out of that stop alone, so when I saw Aaron riding in followed shortly by Kate and Adam, I knew I’d be back on the bike soon.

After stuffing in more liquids and some Salt and Vinegar Pringles down my neck, Aaron I continued on towards the finish. From here we knew the course only had one more climb and it was all downhill and flat from there. We took it nice and slow, being sure to stop by the nuclear reactor for some mandatory pics. Coming to the last climb of the day we hoped off and walked it with no shame.

Where super heroes are made.

Up and over, we flew down the backside of the hill into the flats where we met back up with the Katy trail. A brief banana stop at the bottom of the hill gave time for Kate and Adam to catch us, and we rolled on down the trail in a TOG and Team Virtus pace line reminiscent of the US Postal Team Time Trial, minus the drugs. It was beautiful.

We soon traded the smooth rail trail for the chunky fresh limestone of the north Jefferson City river bottoms. I started feeling really strong. I looked over my shoulder and had opened a gap over the rest of the pain train. I don’t know what the recipe for that feeling was, but I went with. I soon found myself alone again, cranking well over my average speed and feeling great. I stuffed my headphones in, cranked up some ACDC, and laid down my fastest miles of the day. I was able to catch a few other riders over the next 20 miles, and came into the finish still feeling remarkably good. I was met with a wall of ice water compliments of Bob and a cold beer was opened and in in my hands before I had time to register that the ride was over.

The ice bath

It was another good day on the bike and I’m happy to have finally completed this thing incident free. Here are a few lessons from the day…

Things that worked

– Bruce Gordon Rock and Road Tires – the extra width and versatile tread made these a big asset when the ride went off road and for smoothing out those sections of fresh gravel.